


Before the Battle (Love Again)

by nebula_vs_supernova



Series: Fandom Oneshots and Drabbles and Everything in Between [3]
Category: Fable 3 (Video Game)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Late Night Conversations, Sharing a Bed, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-11-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:21:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27430102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nebula_vs_supernova/pseuds/nebula_vs_supernova
Summary: With the final battle rapidly approaching, the Queen visits her wife and daughters once more. Late into the night, she expresses her worries to her wife.
Relationships: Hero of Brightwall & Original Character(s), Hero of Brightwall/Original Character(s)
Series: Fandom Oneshots and Drabbles and Everything in Between [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/763173
Kudos: 6





	Before the Battle (Love Again)

**Author's Note:**

> Yes. I loved my first Fable 3 Hero, and happily, no one died.  
> Blanket permission details are available on my profile.

The day was especially cold when the queen arrived at the hidden little house in the mountains where she hid away her most precious. The girls running in the snow, Anna pushing handfuls of it into Julie's face, cackling, Julie pouting and calling for her mother, Val appearing in the doorway with a fond smile.

"Be nice to your sister," Val called, wiping her hands on her apron.

Anna plopped down into the snow. "But _Mum!_ "

Val tutted, wagging a finger at her daughter. "No arguing." She reached behind herself to begin untying the apron. "And go get cleaned up. Dinner will be ready soon." She disappeared into the house.

"Yes, Mum," the girls echoed -- Julie seriously, Anna sarcastically.

The queen smiled as Julie turned to help Anna up and Anna merely flopped down in the snow with a groan.

"I don't wanna!"

Julie frowned, leaning to pull her sister up by the front of her dress. "Mum said."

Anna's legs kicked in the snow. "Mum said," she mocked.

The queen approached as Julie tried to haul Anna up again. "You'll get frostbite."

Julie dropped Anna. "Mama!"

The queen stifled a laugh as Anna rubbed at her shoulders, groaning. "Come on, dears." She held out a hand for Anna, taking Julie's with her free hand. "Mum will be waiting."

Julie wrapped herself around the queen's grip, staring up adoringly while Anna bounced at her side, kicking at the snow. The air was cold, but the warmth in the queen's heart warded off the worst of it. Anna swung their clasped hands and glanced up at the queen.

"How long are you staying?"

The queen smiled down at Anna sadly. "Only overnight."

"We missed you," the redheaded Julie piped in.

The queen stopped. She slid down to her knees, and she wrapped her arms around the children. "And I you.

"Girls!" The call came from inside the house. "I thought I said 'get cleaned up'." Val appeared in the door and froze. "My love."

The queen smiled and stood, picking the girls up with her. She set one child on each shoulder. "Val, darling." The queen walked up to Val, dropping a kiss to her cheek. "I hope I'm not intruding."

A smile lit up her face. "Of course not, love."

Later, dinner was cleaned up. The books the queen had read to them, stowed again on shelves, and the blankets folded away for the night. The girls were tucked into bed and fast asleep. In the bed that Val usually spent her nights alone in, she now sat, running her fingers through the queen's short hair.

"Tell me what's bothering you."

The queen shuffled further into Val's side. "I'm just worried. Time is running short now."

Val hummed, adding circles into the pattern she was making in the queen's hair.

"I'm so scared that I'll lose you, the girls like I did Elliot."

"I know, love." Val leaned down to kiss the queen's head. "I know."

The queen pressed her hands into her eyes, huffing. "The darkness is coming, and we're not nearly as far along as we should be. What if it's not enough?"

"It will be."

The queen wrenched her hands away from her face. "How do you know?"

Val took one of her hands with the hand she had free, bringing it to her lips. "Because you're trying. We are living in near-destitution, so you may try to preserve the people as much as you can. We are hidden away here, so you may have some comfort that we won't be caught in the crossfire." Val smiled down at the queen. "It's enough."

She laughed humorlessly. "Do you know how much I worry? That I'll come here one day to find you and the girls dead in the snow? That nothing I do will be enough? That I won't be able to do what Father did?"

"I know, my love."

The queen sat up. "I worry and worry, and after Aurora, all I could think is that I didn't want to die without having you as my wife."

Val smiled and pulled her queen back into her. "You're so brave, my dear. Even the essence of darkness couldn't snuff you out."

"It almost did." Val looked down at her, and the queen continued, "when I thought Walter was going to die, I could feel it closing in on me."

"But it did not. You prevailed." Val tucked herself into her love's hair. "Your strength and your love for you people will be remembered long after the Hero of Bower Lake is forgotten."

"Especially because I drained the lake." There was a beat of silence. "Sometimes I wish I could be more selfish, that I hadn't let Logan kill Elliot, that I could just abdicate and forget this Hero business."

"I know, but Elliot and I love you for what you are." Val pulls away to look at her. "Not for what you are not. If you had chosen him, you never would have been able to look at him without seeing the people. If you were not queen, this kingdom would be doomed." She smiled. "If you were not a Hero, I would have never had the honor of loving you."

The queen smiled. "Do you remember the first thing you said to me?"

Val groaned. "Something horribly rude, I'm sure."

"You told me to get out of your way." The queen's thumb brushes against the back of Val's hand. "Suddenly, I wasn't the princess or a Hero. I was just me, and I loved you."

"And I had had a terrible day, and I saw this woman, too big for her body and wearing the most utterly expensive and bloodstained clothes I'd ever seen, stomping towards me like a woman on a mission." Val laughed.

"I was on a mission," the queen protested.

Val extracted her hand from hair to tap her on the nose. "Not enough of a mission to forgo making friends with Edward."

The queen blushed. "He was a lovely best man." She paused while Val chuckled. "One day I'll give you a proper royal wedding. Not just some friends on the streets of Brightwall."

"I am blessed to love you," Val said. "Even if you had never loved me back, I would have treasured this love for you until my heart gave out." She grinned. "Everything else is just a bonus."

"Still," the queen insisted. "I want everyone to know you're my beautiful wife. I just-- I need to deal with this first."

She settled back into Val, and Val went back to combing through her hair. Val remembered their early conversations from before the queen-then-princess had cut her hair and discovered that she was more herself in princely clothes. She remembered asking why she had chosen her, and the princess telling her how she would never love another man, she couldn't after Elliot. It wasn't until later that the queen had opened up about how Elliot had died, and Val found it profoundly sad.

"Can you promise me something?"

The queen sat up, Val's hand still tangled in her hair. "Anything."

"If I do die," Val swallowed hard, "find another love."

"I can't--"

Val sat up a bit too. "I couldn't bear to leave this world knowing that you will be alone, my love." She took a deep breath. "Please."

Tears welled in the queen's eyes, and Val was reminded with a shock how sensitive her love could be.

"I don't want to live in a world without you or Elliot."

Val cupped her cheeks with her palms. "You must. The world needs you, and so we must sacrifice."

"But when does it end?" Her voice had raised, but she kept as quiet as possible for the children.

Val shook her head. "Never. It will never end."

All the tension dropped from the queen's body, and she slumped against Val. "I know."

Val leaned back into the headboard again, burrowing into the queen's hair. "I will be by your side for as long as I have a body, I will love you longer, but I don't want you to suffer."

"I…"

"You don't have to forget us," Val squeezed her eyes shut, "but I need you to try to be happy. For us as much as you."

The queen nodded against Val, and the next morning, she was gone without saying goodbye. Money still came, and gifts still arrived, but the queen did not visit again. Val understood.

Now, they wait.


End file.
